Lyrics: 3.0/ 5.0 - Production: 4.0/5.0 - Overall Score: 3.1/5.0
Review by Reesh - Follow me on Twitter! I won't bite! Well, maybe a little - @MrReesh
Being born
on the same day of the week as Juliyaa, a Thursday, I can't help but feel me
and her share a very special bond, that of those lucky enough to not be born on
a Monday but not quite lucky enough
to be born on a Friday. However I will remain professional; no
birth-day-of-the-week-favouritism – which is why I’m able to say that Stars N Dragons is not only average, but frustratingly average.
Now I like
Juliyaa; her earlier songs Smile and The Rhythm have purchased some long term
mortgage-free real estate on my iPod, which is why I was so confused by the
quality of Stars N Dragons.
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| Probably the cutest fish face ever made by a fish |
The mixtape
starts off with a simple poem,
Thursday
Born (brap brap), set against a relaxing slow synth sound you can rather
convincingly replicate with your mouth while making ultra sexy fish faces. The
poem ends up being
okay, and unfortunately
manages to set expectations high for the oncoming piece. The next track
Tidal Wave, though wonderfully produced ultimately
ends up being disappointing, with a strangely empty chorus and chopped ending
that just feels lazy and robotic. The lyrics are decent, but to me delivery is
just not quite there.
Like Magic is a
better effort, and even with such painfully obvious lines like "we go on
and on (...) until the break of dawn" it successfully gives the lighthearted party vibe it seeks to create. Additionally,
Stars & Dragons is definitely enjoyable, with a lively instrumental
and great cadence that makes the song joyful, vibrant and alive in celebration
of Juliyaa’s heritage (half Ghanaian and half Welsh, hence STARS and DRAGONS).
However
Element provided the major low point for
me. Though the track is clearly meant to be a club banger, it lacks a
consistent feel of pace until the heavy hitting drums come in for BBK’s Frisco’s
verse, which itself is very much average and lacking the same liquid delivery
as that of
Keepin’ It G’D Up or his
F64s. But for the LOLs you can kind of sing along with the guy in the chorus
and say “I wanna see your
element elephant, elephant”. Simple pleasures.
But then there’s
the amazing ballad IWIHIA (I Wish I Had It
All). Seriously bro: what the hell? It’s HERE, 5 out of 6 songs in that Juliyaa shows you that she can really sing, write and deliver, and very
quickly this becomes the song you switch to whenever Stars N Dragons pokes its head out from shuffle on your mp3
player. In fact, the song is of such
high quality it sounds bizarre amongst the other average Joe songs, causing you
to feel a little frustrated that the rest of the songs aren’t up to the
standard this one sets.
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| Planet Krispy Kreme (original glazed form) |
In the end,
Stars N Dragons ends up being
decent – but it had
so much potential!
Juliyaa clearly has talent, you can’t dispute that, but for the majority of the
mixtape she just chooses to exercise that talent to create merely mediocre
songs, which is upsetting.
Sad face. Still
it’s worth a download, especially as that’s currently the only way to get
IWIHIA and
Stars & Dragons which are easily the best songs on the mixtape,
IWIHIA being the kind of beautiful, heartwarming song you hear when you look up
at the stars and dream about a planet made of Krispy Kremes – and I know I’m
not the only one that does that... right?
My Top 3:
1) IWIHIA
2) Stars & Dragons
3) Like Magic
Photo credit:
Goldfish - "NEW FISH!!! #2" by Benson Kua
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